And the saga with my younger bro's 1982 sport coupe Camaro continues...

We did a complete brake job up front (haven't done the rears yet). Replaced the pads, rotors, both calipers. Hoses looked okay so we left them alone. I bled the calipers well, and they bled quickly and without any trouble. Old calipers were sticky; pistons didn't move well...too much central NY winter climate experience...it was a woman's delivery vehicle for her business before we got it....saw about 6 road-salty winters....

Even with all of the new parts, the brakes still lock up after you step on them. The car will stop on a dime without pulling at all side-to-side, but the front calipers will not relax off the rotors until you revv the gas and force the car forward against the brakes. Then the rotors turning is enough to push the pistons back in and the car rolls fine again until the next time the brakes are applied. I know for certain it's the front brakes and not the untouched rear ones because I can feel it when the car stops, and can hear the groaning from the front brakes as I force the car forward after letting off the brake pedal. What do you think? Both front brake hoses shot? Air leakage in rear brakes (no fluid leaks that I can see)?

 

I would say change the hoses, sounds like they may be collapsing. I almost wonder why you didn't just change them when you did the rest of the brakes. Of course in your climate they may be a real pain to change. With salty roads and corrosion I mean...

 

Part of the reason was that my brother ran out of cash after buying everything else, and the other part was that I can see that the second we try busting the steel line loose from the hoses, the line is going to break....oh well, guess I'm just going to have to bend the new pieces out. Thanks for the opinion, '92.

 

I bought my Z in Colorado years ago when I was out there in school. It had its share of rusted out components on it as well. When I did my front brakes I sprayed to hard line fitting with a rust penatrator a few times before I took a wrench to it. Then the sucker came right off. Maybe you want to try a similar method...

 

Soak them well with a penetrating oil as mentioned; also when the time comes, hold the nut still, and turn the hose off of it, instead of the nut out of the hose. This may save it, and you should then be able to free the nut up on the hardline, and use anti-seize when re-assembling.

 

You know.....Just a hunch, but the problem may not be the hoses although they need to be replaced anyway. Question first: Do the brakes stick everytime you come to a stop?

This really sounds like more of a problem in the master cylinder piston. I'd replace the unit.

Just to make sure, do a quick test to see if your brake booster is properly working. I cant remember offhand (but its in Chilton).

 

Okay, I used wd-40, and a propane torch. I heated up the fittings on my canadian fire bird, and then tried moving them. If they didn't move I let them cool a little then sprayed wd-40. This usually helped.Some times I had to reheat them. Hope this helps.

 

Master cylinder malfunction? Ah!! I really hope not! I've never done one of those before...though I suppose there couldn't be an easier car to change one on than a plain-Jane 1982 Fbody. I own the Chilton's manual, so I guess I'm going to have to look up that test...

 

The test is really simple (look in the troubleshooting section). But I doubt its the booster anyway. Just have to look for brake pedal movement after depressing the brakes and disconnecting the vacuum line to the booster. If your booster was bad you'd have a hard time depressing the pedal.

The master is not difficult. The only pain is bench bleeding it, but the only reason its a pain is because your arm gets tired after repeatedly pressing/depressing the piston. I think the reman ones cost like $30.

Its really not that bad. And they do sell vacuum bleeders at autozone now ($25) to make it pretty easy.

Its 22 years old now, so its probably way past due anyway. Gotta keep up with that damn preventive maintanence!

Also...make sure you bed the pads. The general rule is 30 stops from 30mph to zero. They'll feel REALLY good after a good bedding process.

 

I tried that on my Z28. Once.
That sucker blew and spurted brake fluid all over, mostly on my face (glad I wear <font face="Wingdings" size="5">$</font>!) and I could barely hear anything until the next day because <font face="Wingdings" size="5">M L</font>
Replacing/splicing a line now seems like a much more viable option<font face="Wingdings" size="5">J</font>

Pete

 

If you use heat on a closed system such as your brakes make sure to open the bleeder screw closest to the hard line you are working on. Sorry about leaving that out. If ya heat it up it will blow if there isn't a way to release the pressure. But this method works, I did it on all my rear hard lines. My car came from canadia

 

hmmm....I think I'll leave the torch out of this, haha. I told my brother to get his wallet ready for doing the work this weekend, so I'll let you guys know how it went then. I did do some tests yesterday, and from what I could tell, the Master Cyl. is fine; however, the driver's side hose is collapsing unquestionably. So both are getting replaced on Saturday, and we might as well do the back brakes at the same time. Fun....

 

Replace your front brake hoses.